1.   A local Falun Gong spokeswoman, Sharon Xu, said demonstrators had been arrested in Hong Kong only once before, also outside the Chinese liaison office.

2.   Afterward, it intends to present a petition to the local Chinese liaison office, said Kan Hung-cheung, a Falun Gong spokesman.

3.   Falun Gong kept arguing with the police over how close its adherents could get to the Chinese liaison office.

4.   Hong Kong officials countered the charges by saying they acted only after the Chinese liaison office complained about the obstruction outside.

5.   However, a police spokesman, Mackenzie Mak, told The Associated Press Monday that both complaints came from the Chinese liaison office.

6.   Lee said that the Chinese liaison office complained the Falun Gong protest was forcing visitors to step around the demonstrators to go inside the building.

7.   Police have warned that demonstrators would inconvenience staff of the Chinese liaison office by demonstrating out front.

8.   The Chinese liaison office had complained they were a public obstruction and the police told them to move a few steps away.

9.   The members had received permission to stage their protest in a nearby park, not opposite the Chinese liaison office, he said.

10.   They were arrested after police repeatedly warned them to move following complaints from the Chinese liaison office.